The highlight of the month of April were the conferences with Dr. Bruce A. Ware. The conference in Bucharest on the theology of salvation was wonderful and gave us a broader picture of the great salvation that the Lord Jesus has accomplished for us. We were so glad to see all the students and young people who attended this conference! It proved once again that there are so many who are hungry for the truth of God's Word and for sound biblical teaching. As I was talking to some of the students, they told me that the expositions on election and effectual calling answered some of their questions. The Romanian evangelical church has a very strong Arminian background, so the doctrine of election is quite new for many believers. I am glad to see that the Lord is raising up a new generation of young people who are studying these doctrines and are not as reluctant to them as the older generations.

On April 19th we had the evangelistic Easter conference with Dr. Bruce A. Ware. The saddest thing was to see that almost all our posters that we had put up in one University were torn. It was clear that they carefully looked for them to tear them out because even those placed on the higher floors, with less student traffic, were torn. We put them up again, and in about 20 minutes, one which was placed in a very good position disappeared. I wondered why, and I came to the conclusion that they really hated our topic for the conference: "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the proof that He is the only way of salvation". I hope that these people at least came to hear the message. We rented a public hall and gave away thousand of invitations, but not many unbelievers came. Some of the ones that came were invited by their friends. I was very encouraged by one student who had received an invitation and said, "I did not want to come, but I had to come." May the Lord perform a work of regeneration in their hearts. The message was excellent, proving how the Lord Jesus Christ is the Only One who has met all the conditions to be our Savior, and how He alone could have done that. It was uplifting! At the end I introduced Dr. Ware to one student who was in our ski camp. He attends our meetings but believes in reincarnation and does not believe that only through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus in our place can we be saved. She told him a little bit about her questions and I expected him to give her a long list of arguments of any kind, thinking "I did not have enough arguments, but he will". Instead, he simply told her,"you need to pray that God would reveal to you that these things are true." Then he asked her permission to pray for her that the Lord would just do that. This was a humbling lesson for me! I was reminded that it is not stronger and more clever arguments that people need, but a revelation from the Father! "At that time Jesus said, 'I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure." Matthew 11:25,26

Before Easter we went with questionnaires into the dorms, trying to discuss with the students the real meaning of Easter. We are very thankful to the Lord for many good discussions about the gospel. We went two by two and I think all teams received from the Lord good opportunities for witnessing. I was especially encouraged while talking to a girl. It was interesting to see how we were able to talk to her! At first we went in a different dorm where we got kicked out several times. We tried again, but my team was kicked out again. So we went to another dorm. We knocked at several doors but the students were not interested in doing the questionnaire. Eventually we got to this girl who told us she did this questionnaire before Christmas also. She seemed open to talk to us. She was a religious person and so were her parents, but it seemed to me that she did not stop at the rituals.

Apparently she was trying to apply in her life what she was learning in the Orthodox church. She had a car accident about a month and a half ago and the thought of death made her want to 'take these things more seriously', as she told us. She was trying that by working her own self righteousness, because this was what she had been taught. We were glad to share the gospel of grace with her and she listened very carefully. She seemed to understand and agree that our obedience is an effect and not the cause of salvation, but I am not sure how real her sinfulness and desperate state without Christ were in her. She did not want to take any of our materials, but we encouraged her to read her 'orthodox' Bible. It was interesting that she lives close to where I go each summer for vacation with my family, so if the Lord wills we could meet again in the summer. May the Lord have mercy on her soul!  

We wish to see people converted right when they hear the gospel and we know the Lord can do just that. But it seems that now is a season when it takes time to plow and plow before the soil is ready for the seed. What amazes me again and again is that the message of the gospel becomes so strange to people, that even after a very clear explanation of it they are not able to repeat it. It seems that they cannot grasp it even intellectually. So many times after witnessing and emphasizing the idea of grace and not works, when we ask them, 'so how can you be saved?', they say 'I need to be a better person', which is really puzzling for us. I get this answer so many times in our evangelistic Bible studies. One girl seemed to understand better. We are studying the gospel of John and I am encouraged because she takes the time to come and because she understands more than others do. She doesn't read the Bible much herself, apart from what we read in the group, but I started giving her Christian biographies. She was especially impressed reading the biography of a man who was unjustly put into prison and was converted there. He has a very powerful testimony and she told me she was very touched by reading it. May the Lord reveal the Lord Jesus Christ to her and bring her to saving faith in Him!